given their all, they've done a fantastic job. i'm so proud of thechlt they accomplished their mission a long time ago, breaking up al qaeda in afghanistan. it's time to let them come home. they've done their job and they've served the country proudly. willie, if it's way too early, what time is it? >> it's "morning joe." >> i don't even know what that means. there's no debating it. a huge week for the presidential campaign. first face-to-face meeting happens in battleground colorado. can a solid performance at the denver debate help mitt romney change the perceptions and boost his poll numbers? and the expectations game isn't slowing down one bit. both sides say the other side was one of the most gifted debate performers in the history of mankind. so if they're both right, then this should be a heck of a night on wednesday, shouldn't they? lincoln douglas, watch out. plus at the brink, a special nbc news report from all across

the middle east, afghanistan, iran, syria, as multiple situations grow more dangerous da, what challenges face this president and whoever takes office in january? good morning from washington. it's monday, october 1st, 2012. this is the daily rundown. i'm chuck todd. one more rundown. let's get to the rundown. mitt romney need as great october to change the course of this campaign. for your him it had to begin wednesday night in denver. romney had just a rough three weeks. he's had a rough three months. you could argue that romney hasn't, quote, won a month in this campaign since may or june. a trailing campaign has just a handful of opportunities to fundamentally change the trajectory of a race. it's losing. barring an october surprise, the three debates that kick off wednesday night are romney's last chance. the president rallied supporters sunday night kicking off his

eighth trip to nevada this year before 00 kwering down for two full days for debate prep at a lakeside resort in suburban las vegas. >> you may have heard that in a few days my opponent in this election and i are going to have a debate. i know folks in the media are speculating already on who's going to have the best zingers. >> you are. >> i don't know about that. >> both campaigns from the candidates on down have been frantically spinning to lower expectations for wednesday night. >> governor romney, he's a good debater. i'm just okay. >> president obama is a very experienced speaker, experienced debater. he's dub this before. this is mitt's first time on this kind of a stage. >> we've suspected all along that mitt romney will have a good night. he's prepared more than any candidate and he's shown himself

to be a very good debate over the years. >> but on "meet the press" it was apparently governor chris christie who went off script who said he's going to have to beat the result if mitt romney is going to come out on top in november. >> on wednesday night, mitt romney is going to be standing on the same stage as the president of the united states and i'm telling you, david, come thursday morning, the entire narrative of this race is going to change. >> we'll see if he's right. but what chris christie says is right as predicted if you're mitt romney. donors are nervous, and perhaps in christie's mind his assertion was an atelt to boost the morral of romney's supporters. the bottom line, if christie's aspirations do not come true, romney has bigger problems. people who pay no federal tacks and get government help, were, quote, inarticulate.

>> we've had some missteps but at the end of the day, the choice is really clear and we're giving people a really clear choice. >> but when ryan was asked by fox's chris wallace whether the media is, quote, carrying water for barack obama, ryan took the bait and ryan wasn't the only one who thinks the media is preparing to game him a raw deal. >> i think it kind of goes without saying there is definitely a media bias. >> i think most media are left of center and therefore they want a left of center versus a conservative president like mom. >> it's going to be ups and downs and we know the media is anxious to write the romney/ryan comeback story. >> everybody is playing. we know some of the questions asked had an agenda as well. anyway, romney has a rally in colorado tonight. but for the next two days both candidates will be largely hunkering down with debate prep,

cramming if you will. as his former debate coach put it in "the new york times," quote, the governor's done great job of convincing people that the economy's bad. he's got do a better job of making case that president obama's directly responsible for that. that's got to be his focus. if it becomes about anything else, then i think the governor's at a disadvantage. expect romney to go on offense, he has to. as someone in the campaign, perhaps unhelpfully leaked to "the new york times," quote, romney's team has conclude thad debates are about creating moments and it's equipped him with a series of zingers that he has memorized and has been practicing on aides since august. well, so much for keeping expectations low, right? romney also has to prove he can be 'depressive without allowing the president to get under his skin. he joked about how portman has been supporting him.

>> he plays barack obama. we get a chance to debate one another. after an hour and a half or so is over, i want to kick him out of the room. >> another debate goal is his policies aren't just rehashed bush material. those are things he failed to live up to. while the campaign continues to feed the "we won't tell you the specifics" narrative. sunday paul ryan said it's not in the least bit true that cutting the tax rate by 20% would cut $20 trillion in five years. >> how much does it cost? >> it's revenue neutral. >> we'll get to the -- >> the cut in tax rates is lower, by 20%. >> how much does that cost? >> it's revenue neutral. lowering the tax rates by broadening the tax rates -- >> let me --. i -- >> you haven't given me the math. >> i don't have the time. it would take me too long go

through all of the math. >> that's a quote you're going to hear a lot, i guess from the obama campaign and the president himself. meanwhile the president who's known for being a bit long-winded and can have an hour-long news conference with only eight questions is working to sharpen his responses. quote, we eh had a hard time getting every point across within the time limit. you're trying to make a case to the people, so you have to make sure your answers connect with people. he got some advice from howard dean. >> the president's got to avoid being irritable. hi's got to roll with the punches. mitt is going to be out there, aggressive. he feet to show a sense of humor and show he's likeable. that's all nonverbal cues. >> folks, these debates, though, they don't have time limits, they allow for a lot of back and

forth. it will be interesting to see which candidate enjoys that idea that you don't have any limits on your time, oi indicational interruptions by the moderator, but the candidates can drive this as much as they want if the format that has been set forth by the commission is to be believed. that's something neither of these candidates have ever experienced in their debate histories. finally over the weekend republicans kept the white house on the defensive. after the friday announcement from the director of national intelligence, talk about a 5:00 news dump, that the deadly assault on the u.s. consulate in benghazi was, in fact, deliberate and organized. on friday peter king called on ambassador susan rice to resign saying, quote, the fact is she gave out information which was either intentionally or unintentionally misleading and wrong and there should be consequences for that.

called her, quote, an enormously capable person. in an unusual statement on friday, the office of the director of national intelligence explained the changing description of the events of the attack, quote, in the immediate aftermath, there was information that led us to aseventy that the attack began spontaneously following protests earlier that day at our embassy in cairo. as we learned more about the attack, we revised our initial assessment to reflect new information indicating that it was a deliberate and organized terrorist attack carried out by extremists. the administrations appeared to slow walk, calling the libya attack terrorism. the president's aitd said intelligence had changed. >> that was preposterous. this president's record on

terrorism takes a back seat to no one. >> i was kind of shocked to see representative king attack ambassador rice for what she said last sunday here because she was acting on the intelligence that was given to her by the intelligence community. >> as you can see and you heard it from david plouffe, he used the phrase "intelligence community" i think some six or seven times, seemed to put eight the hands of the intelligence kmunl community and then said there's not a problem with the community by the way. this morning american cross roads is out with a tough new internet video. take a look. >> what did president obama do the same day of a terror attack on american citizens? he campaigned in las vegas. then at the annual u.n. meeting where rogue nations are calling for a new world order, obama snubbed key allies and skipped meetings with world leaders so he could be on tv. >> so how much of the campaign is this going to be?

the romney campaign is debating how forcefully to engage the libya issue. some are advising it's good to use as a stand-in for overall failures of the president. romney tries to do that in a wall street op-ed writing disturbing developments are sweeping across the greater middle east, these developments are not, as president obama says, mere bumps in the road. they are major issues that put our security at risk. yet amid this upheaval, our country seems to be at the mercy. >> the response was slow, it was confused. it was inconsistent. they first said it was a youtube video and a spontaneous mob. we now know it was a planned terrorist attack. if this was one tragic incident, that would be a tragedy in and of itself. the problem is it's part of bagger picture of the fact that the obama foreign policy is unraveling lit literally before

our eyes an on tvs. >> perhaps it's too rich of a debate target for romney to try not to bring up. that said, and by the way, here's another aspect of this. do you do an op-ed in "the wall street journal" 48 hours before the debate that's supposed to be all about the economy if you don't intent to bring this up? it's either a subtle message to the moderator or a warning that he's going to bring this up if the moderator doesn't. the last time we heard from the supreme court we got a little rule being about some little issue having to do with the president and his health care law. you might remember it. today the court begins a new term and it could bring more high-profile rulings on issues from affirmative action to gay marriages. pete is at the supreme court. well, look. it's going to be some landmark decisions. it seems they're coming down in the way the court is signaling in the cases it took.

is that a fair way to interpret all this, pete? >> so far it's taken one case on affirmative action, chuck. it's a big case. a challenge by a white student to the universities consideration of race in rounding out the freshman class. the last time the supreme court looked aet this nine years ago, it upheld the affirmative action. that was written by sandra day o'connor. she's left. alito has taken over. the requirement that in states that have a history of racial discrimination, that they have to get federal permission before they make any changes in their elections. it's widely expected the court will grant that kay. feeble the regulation for same-sex marriage. the court hasn't decided this act yet either. it's with a virtual certainty the court will take it. this is the defensive marriage act signed by president clinton. it says for federal recognition, the marriages are only between

men and women. the question is it fair, constitutional or discriminatory against gay couples. if it strikes it down, i doesn't say that states have to recognize gay marriages but where gay marriages have taken place, they have to uphold that. >> when will be we hear the arguments on it? >> october 10th. it's challenged by this white student, gable fisher from texas. the university has an interesting program, chuck. it grants admission automatic will toy the university of texas in austen for the top 10% of every high school class. the whole goal is racial diversity. that gets them some diversity. the question is whether they can take the extra tell to round out the race of the other applicants. >> it means it happens before the election, not the decision, and the argument and it means it will at least get into the presidential debate.

pete williams. it's october 1st. where else is he going to be. up next, florida, florida, florida. it's a state with an inauspicious history when it comes to ballots. governor charlie crist will join me next. plus, the united states relationship in the middle east are being tested. we have reporters on the ground across the region. but first a look ahead at the schedule of president obama and mitt romney. president obama in las vegas. don't be surprised if you see him. he has no public events but bet we see him go get a hamburger or something and mitt romney has rally tonight when he gets to denver. that's where we're going to be tonight. you're watch dnd only on nbc.

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the florida republican party has filed around election complaint against a firm that the republican national committee hired to register florida voters. there are at least 220 questionable registration records, according to a report by "the miami herald." but the state still haunted by its national notoriety as the home of hanging chads, could a cloud of it hang over the sunshine state? joining me now is former florida governor charlie crist, a republican turned independent who's been supporting a whole heck of a lot of democrats lately including president obama who mr. crist previously served as florida's attorney general. let me ask you about the law that the state party filed this

complaint with the secretary of state. what is the legal requirement now by the secretary of state's office? what kind of -- does it get moved to criminal action or is this sort of a state ethics investigation? >> i think at this stage, chuck, it's probably a state ethics investigation. the secretary of state's office will certainly look into it, try to make a fair determination of what's really going on here. but i think bigger picture is what the legislature has done here in florida and other states as it relates to early voting and voter suppression if you will. that's really the big problem we're facing coming up on this presidential election in just 30 or so days and it's effecting not only early voting in the early voting hours, but it's also affected voting by mail. what i mean by that is the only way somebody can validate who they are when they vote by mail and send that ballot in is by the signature that they utilize and making sure that that signature they sign matches the

one at the supervisor of election office. one small example of that, my mother who had a minor stroke last year north fatly recovered extremely well but she doesn't have use of her hand. she's right-handed. if she were to vote by mail that would not match the one at the supervisor's office. to add insult to injury, the legislature added in this law that the only body of evidence that can be taken into this account to check that the mailed in ballot is the signature. the court can't take any other reference into consideration. these kinds of things are what's been happening not only in florida but across the country i believe to suppress the report. >> let me ask you a question about one of the reasons that the state rch party chairman filed this complaint so quickly, fired this firm is the state republican party when you were in charge of the party, your

hand-picked jim greer had his own zan dal of questionable money. i know he's on trial for that. you may be called to testify about it. and i know there are certain thing you can't talk about. but what do we do to bring more transparency to state parties? i mean it seems as if there's sort a lot of loosey-goosey things that happen. yes, there are private companies, if you will, the state political parties and in this case, the state republican paerkts but they're having an impact on a very public event, which is elections. >> no question about it. and i think greater transparency is the answer. and i think one of the ways do that and an indirect way is to have open primaries. and if you have open primaries where people in some states already can do this, you know, whether you're a republican, democrat, or independent, on primary election day you can decide to vote in that party's primary even if it's not your own. how d us that help with

transparency? it will weaken it if you will. >> you want to weaken political parties? do you think that's healthy for the parties, put power in the super pac committees? >> no. think the power is in the people and if you allow them to skper cease their freedom, thing what you end up having is a more powerful electorate. that's wait should be. of the people, by the people. for the people. i'm as concerned with super pacs as anybody is. i hope that after the election if president obama's re-elected, which i hope he will be, we'll get some new supreme court members who will be able to right that wrong. >> let me ask you a question. the state of florida may send the following to people to congress, back to the u.s. congress. alan grayson and alan west.

i know you have -- you're supporting the opponent of mr. west. first of all, are you supporting mr. grayson and what does that say about the state of florida, to be charitable, the bombastic men in these cycles -- >> you're a floridian, you know this. we are truly a purple state. there's more diversity in our politics brother than any state in the nation. and as a result of that, you're going to get some of these candidates that, you know, will be very vocal in what they have to say. i believe patrick murphy is dwoek to defeat alan west in southeast florida. he's worked very hard, an articulate bright young man. he's a cpand i think he has a great chance to win and i think grayson will be re-elected and get back into congress. >> should he be? do you think his style is what we need in korng? >> i think we need more civilitity.

you know, everybody has their own style. but he's probably being true to himself and if the people in the district elect him, that's what the results should be. >> charlie crist, independent former government and independent senate. thanks for coming up. wall street kicks off the fourth quarter. we're playing the debate expectations game with a member of romney's team though before we get to that. but first today's trivia question. how many vice presidents served under more than one president? >> send me the answer @chucktodd or @daleyrundown. the answer coming up.

on wednesday night in denver, mitt romney may have his last chance. >> on wednesday night mitt romney is going to be standing on the same stage as the president of the united states. and i'm telling you, david, come thursday morning, the entire narrative of this race is going to change. >> joraning me now, former senator. senat senator, let me ask you. do you agree with him? >> well, i think governor romney's going well. now, president obama is a good debater. i think generally what governor kritty was saying is when the stakes are this high in an election like this, when you have -- when you've added $5 trillion in debt and we have the worst economy since the great depression and now we're seeing our foreign policy collapse

around the world, they tend to be independent voters anyway and they tend to focus on the debate. the debates are significant, and i would agree with that? is it pretty clear that if governor romney is writing op-eds 48 hours before that's supposed to be about economy and domestic policy that he's trying to send a signal to jim laird that he wants libya brought up? >> i don't think he's going to mind if libya's brought up. it's a collapse of our foreign policy. really what we're seeing -- >> you say a collapse of foreign policy. well, go ahead. finish your tlans and then i want to talk about that for a minute. >> sure. i think it's going to be a domestic policy debate. i'm sure romney's main message is going to be, look, it doesn't have to be this way, okay? we can create jobs, we can deal with the federal deficit, and, yes, we can have a foreign policy where we stabilize these parts of the world if we'll just

act in the traditions of bipartisan foreign policy since world war ii. i think that's going to be his basic message. >> in the op-ed there was a phrase used, soft power. i guess what does that mean? what would they have done differently with libya? >> well, here's what should have happened. first, ideally you anticipate the arab spring. if you can't do that, when it happens you set forth a very clear vision of where the region ought to go, in the direction of a constitutional government. you actually get involved in these countries. you learn the elements that want those things. you support them and give them credibility. you identify the elements that don't want those things. you oppose those. you actually use the tools. >> do you think the united states should take a stand in open den dmitri caratic elections in a place like egypt? >> we should set forth a vision and identify and give

credibility to the country that has those. you don't support dictators. for example, the rigged elections in iran in 2009 which the president refused to get involved in, the four pillars of-mile-an-hour foreign policy, chuck, since world war ii, we lead -- e with work through our alliances, we maintain robust power and we anticipate events to try to deter conflict before they arise. the president hasn't done any of those thing which is why we're where we're at. >> so on mubarak, did the president make a mistake by pushing him out? >> he wait add long time. here's an example. we should have been in there working to get a long enough party organized. the muslim brotherhood was already on the ground. that ice really unprecedented. again, ever since world war ii

americans have led in situations like that but we didn't here. >> very quickly here, todd akin, you didn't want him out of the race. now it seeks luke you'ms like y supporting him. isn't that what people are complaining about? you're not crazy about him as a representative in missouri but you feel party should come before principle? >> i'm putting change first. we can't go on like this. we can't go on with a trillion-dollar budget. with unemployment greater than it's been since the great depression and foreign policy the wait is, i'm going to vote for change. and change for missouri is not claire mccaskill. >> all right. top adviser to governor romney, thanks for coming on this morning. thank you. first trading day of the fourth quarter.

opening bell just rung. let's get to becky quick. >> you get up early and so does jim and both of you with the tweeting, i know. it's unbelievable, but, yes, you're absolutely right, jim's right. the market is up. it likes like the dow is up 65 points. cluck, it doesn't make any sense when you read the headlines coming in. the lead stoirt story in the u.s. is the slowdown. you see some of the numbers that have been coming out. we're going get an ism number here in the united states that will show us a little bit about how the manufacturing industry has been performing. it's another expected to be all that great and yet as you mentioned stocks are up across the board. part of that is what's been happening if with the fed. qe3 which we've been calling qe infinity around here, we talked to charles evans. he said qe3 is a step in the

right direction. he said if it were up to him, he would have done more all along. he likes operation twist. he would like to see it go all through the year. it's supposed to end this year. from the fed's perspective it looks like it's all in and maybe that's affecting the markets. >> becomy for behind the scenes piece. it was how ben bernanke worked and got qe3. >> it brings the consensus. next at the brink, we're taking a deep dive into the escalating turmoil across the middle east. "the daily rundown" will be back in 30 seconds.

new violence and turmoil across the middle east and afghanistan is putting the u.s. on edge. deep dive is about the renewed focus on the region that is at the brink. from israel and iran to libya and syria. situations are deteriorating in some places with alarming speed. in afghanistan, attacks by the taliban and afghan security are forcing the u.s. to rethink its commitment to america's longest war. a string of suicide attacks in iraq show a country still racked with sectarian violence nine months after america's exit there. in libya, of course, the u.s. is grappling with questions about security lapses in the wake of the murders of the ambassador. they battle bashar al

assad's regime. your all of it is the escalating confrontation between israel and iran which has become the flash point. mitt romney warning, quote, if the middle east descends into chaos, if iran moves toward nuclear breakout, or if israel's security is compromised, america could be pulled into the maelstrom. we have multiple reports from around the region this morning and we're going to take you everywhere. we're going to take you to atia. >> hi, there, chuck, today three more servicemembers were killed as well as others. they targeted a afghan patrol in the host province. he patrolled the patrol when it was coming to the end and detonated his explosive and it

caused mass casualties. the taliban claimed responsibility. that followed another deadly weekend where two other americans were killed just west of kabul. an american servicemember and an american civilian contractor who trains was killed in another insider attack. that's when the afghan servicemembers turn on their coalition counterparts. this time it brought the american deaths to 31. it's been a very disturbing trend and it has many americans wondering if they can continue the war if they can't trust their afghan partners. chuck. >> all right. that's atia in kabul. let's go to israel. a charge the white house denies. meanwhile israeli leaders continue to insist the window for stopping an iranian nuke is closing fast. martin fletcher is in tel aviv. what's interesting is the core toon bomb that he brought to the

united nations, it sent a signal that he's more patient than we had realized. >> well, yes, chuck. i mean there's a different analysis of his speech. one of them is he delayed isr l israel's so-called red line which was in august and then september, oath, before the american elections. now it's seem as delayed until spring or next summer. the first question when you meet him, what do you think? will there be war in iran? they're not sure. would israel attack iran at that time? he suggested that with a red line but he didn't come out and say so everybody's question is will israel attack iran? the fear here is israel may do it without the united states of the america and the sense is that would be a disaster, but one thing israelis do agree on and i believe is the bottom lean

is that israel has to be able to do what it needs to protect itself. i think many israelis do agree with thatting chuck. >> all right. that's the view from tel aviv. on sunday, of course, the senior iranian official mocked prime minister netanyahu's bomb drawing. our abc reporter is live in tehran. he's our tehran bureau chief. what does he make of iran and the speech itself. >> up until recently, i don't think the iranians took it seriously. when he came on and said the war with israel with was a foregone conclusion so the iranians are taking this issue much more seriously. he said that iran would be willing to defend itself against

israel. nobody in iran has made these comments before so it looks like iran is taking this much more seriously. and as for the cartoon bomb drawing at the u.n., iranians said this was the big joke at the u.n. and has become the big joke in iran. you see this battle of words. it could really turn into a battle of fish before long because there's a lot between them. >> ali arouzi. now let's go to syria. fighting between bashar al assad's regime and the forces have killed thousands including aleppo where fighting has raged for days. ann curry has more from that syrian border. >> reporter: that's right, chuck. the war in syria has killed more than 30,000 people in the last 18 months claims still more lives today. this morning they said syrian troops bombed a town four miles from a turk eric border and 12

were killed including five children. rebels have launch add massive attack in the country's largest city, aleppo, in what they call a decisive batter. the sook al medina, the site was burned to ashes. they showed us bombed out buildings and told us he's frustrated by the government war plains. he said if the world warned know fly zone, this 18-month-old war would be over in two days. so far there is no end in sight, and while many fear this could become a wider regional conflict, they're predicting as many as 700,000 refugees could flee syria by the end of this year. meantime a human rights wash is documenting the yaus of rain and

torture as weapons in this war and it has called for an international investigation into possible crimes against humanity in syria. chuck, back to you. >> ann curry at the turkish/syrian border. nc is covering this at the brinkings if you will, from afghanistan where we've been on the scene for years to what's been going on to of course the civil war in syria. folks, all the foreign policy questions, we haven't even got on the the relationship with russia. the focus on china and asia, and, oh, by the way, a tough question neither candidate would want to answer, what would you do if there was an uprising in saudi arabia. we're focusing on the middle east today. we'll try to keep this going. up next, it don't mean a thing if you and in't got that swing. the political panel will be here

to kick off the most important week of the presidential campaign since last week. but first the white house soup of the day. it feels like fall, so it should taste like fall. roasted fall vegetable. we'll be right back. on every one of our cards there's a date. a reminder... that before this date, we have to exceed expectations. we have to find new ways to help make life easier, more convenient and more rewarding. it's the reason why we don't have costumers. we have members. american express. welcome in.

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advanced headlights... and zero gravity seats? yeah, that would be cool. ♪ introducing the completely reimagined nissan altima. it's our most innovative altima ever. nissan. innovation that excites. ♪ 36 days away from the election and the polling shows president obama with only a small lead over mitt romney. let's go through a couple of them. it shows president obama, a tight race nationally, just a two-point edge over likely voters against mom. but it shoes him widening his lead against romney in key battleground. the president sitting at 49%. and the columbus dispatch poll,

it's a poll unlike any other. it doesn't buy the old snail mail, but it has a pretty amazing track record. it has president obama up with a surprising nine-point lead among likely voters in the buckeye state. joining me now is a former spokesman for rick santorum. and also chief correspondent for "the washington post." dan. dan, i will begin with you. you guys have the poll of the day that show this split between where the race is nationally and where it is in the swing states. why do you think there's such a wide gap? that's a big gap. >> it is a big gap, chuck. the -- you know, the margin of error on that swing state sample is bigger. >> fair enough. >> and so that 11 points could be less than that. >> but has this been a pattern? >> you know, the swing state moves a little more dramatically because it's a small sample, but i think everything we even seen in the battleground states and

individual polls shows president obama with pretty healthy leads, particularly in the big three, ohio, florida, and virginia. and that columbus dispatch poll, you know, nine points, we had it at -- >> seven or eight as well. >> and cbs had it at ten. more advertising, more campaigning, and think it's had an effect. >> it's funny. four years ago there were 15 states that barack obama and john mccain were advertising in. now it's down to nine. you know, so you're getting same amount of advertising dollars squeezed into nine states. almost overearn gaugement with with the battleground states. >> the battleground map has dramatically decreased. we're in fewer states. you're not seeing, for example, the obama campaign talked about maybe we'll go into arizona or texas and georgia. they didn't. the obama campaign had long been

looking at pennsylvania and michigan. they didn't. remember, in florida eight years ago we were talking about democrats playing missouri and even west virginia at one point or throwing money down to get the other side to spend money or compete and while republicans were looking at places like washington too. where's new mexico? >> robert, one of the things john cohen head of the polling team said it is fascinating the split between the engagement of young voters in swing states and voters in non-swing states. that's where this is being waged. that's where we need to check with enthusiasm. >> i was listening to liz a few moments ago. it feels a lot like 2008. not necessarily from an enthusiasm point. but the math looks almost identical to 2008 in man ways. president obama, let's face it. has has multiple paths to victory. mitt romney does not.

the question becomes whether or not wednesday becomes a game changer for the senator. >> i have a theory when someone is on the verge of winning, we get into more battle dround state, not less states. when we come back, we're going to talk more. trivia time. how many vice presidents served under more than one president? two. john calhoun served under both john quincy adams and andrew jackson. we'll be right back. [ humming ]

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i think mitt romney is not in touch with the little guy. he's always been a supporter of big oil. he has friends in the big oil industry. that might be great for mitt

romney and big oil, but try telling that to my kids. >> a half million dollar ad campaign bye for one state. it's airing in denver just two days before the first presidential debate. let's bring back our panel. colorado has been on the edge for awhile. it really hasn't moved dramatically the way the others have. when democrats -- it's always amazing to me. we'll nationally have one conversation. democrats will play the card in colorado and it works. >> it's such an environmentally sensitive state. any time you can tweak part of the electorate with a message that's somewhat different, it stands out. it reminds people of something they hadn't been thinking of. >> what's interesting is this microtargeting issue you were talking about. las vegas with mexican americans. president was with the mexican rock band.

i mean, they just do all these little things to target. >> they're signaling this is going to be won or lost at the margins. every vote counts. they're going after in ways that matter. that may not mean as much to the general election. >> they've gone at it and they've baited romney to do it and he does it in a way that's not helpful. >> the romney campaign, they don't have individuals in the campaign that actually think about this stuff. >> shameless plugs. >> tonight, we close the show. we'll talk about the presidential debates. >> the almond fund's cancer fight organization is moving into washington, d.c. do an event with them. >> my colleague stephanie and ed have a wonderful piece on the ground game in iowa from the ground level. >> iowa more than any other place you can see it in such a

way. it's like no other battle ground. >> did i say iowa? i meant ohio. >> you said ohio. there are people in iowa doing it. that's it for this edition of "the daily rundown." up next, chris jansing. bye-bye. i'm meteorologist bill. we have storms exiting new england. then a large strormy system through the southeast. and the other weather story is the heat in the west. nearly a hundred degrees from phoenix all the way into los angeles. have a great day. those surprising little things she does

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